What To Do With Melted Time
by hemsut kane
Summary: She thought time froze along with her, but as her ice prison melts away so do her hopes of returning to her old existence. Now she has to piece together both the history and her life that are left over from the years that melted away long before the ice.
1. Prologue

An old story of a curse. Truth? Maybe, maybe not. But it is conceivable given the circumstances. As the story goes, there was a goddess that came down from the heavens, from the sky in a ball or chariot of fire. It is said she was not born of this world, but of the Heavens themselves. She was beautiful, wise, skilled, knowledgeable, a fierce warrior and when she saw the people of Earth she fell in love with them. She ruled and watched over them, protected them, guided them healed them, taught them many things. Anything they needed she would do for them for she loved them deeply and they loved her in return. She lived here on Earth for many years, many lifetimes traveling back and forth across the lands to all the scattered peoples. But it is said that she grew homesick and planned to go home promising to return to Earth someday. The preparations were made and many festivals commenced as the people said their sad goodbyes to their beloved Goddess.

As her departure grew nearer more of her kind arrived. The people rejoiced and welcome the them but these newcomers did not feel the same about them as the Goddess did. They looked down on the people as vermin and completely destroyed many of the villages they encountered. When this news reached the Goddess she rushed to defend her people. For days the battle raged on and soon she began to tire for as powerful as shew as she was far outnumbered. When she began to feel as though she wouldn't be able to carry on much longer she summoned as much strength as possible from within her and ferociously attacked her enemies destroying a great number of them. The ones left alive retreated into the sky and the Goddess decided to follow them because as drained as she was she did not want them to return and harm more of her people.

Now as the story goes, before they left they cursed her and as she was about to pursue them she became trapped. Some say she was engulfed by liquid fire, some say encased in ice and some say in earth it is uncertain which is true but she never was able to follow those who left and was never seen again. The people of Earth mourned the loss of their beloved Goddess. Many of them believed her to be dead and others said she was cursed to slumber for many lifetimes. All that remains today is the old stories passed down through the generations.

* * *

Clang Clang Clang; hammers pound against the rock cracking and breaking it as they make contact and bounce off. Clang Clang CLANG; the sound reaches the ears of a man sleeping in his tent. Clang Clang Clang; it pulls him from his deep sleep and the dream wisps and swirls away as blackness takes over. Clang Clang Clang; he groans at the repetitive and intrusive sound as it gets louder and louder while the light brighter and brighter burning his eyes through his closed lids. Lately every morning is the same, the crew starts to dig without him and eventually it wakes him up. He used to be up before anyone else but recently he'd begun sleeping in as he'd started to lose hope. They'd been on this remote tropical island for four months now and had found next to nothing. Both funds and time were running out and it would be years before he'd be able to get sponsored for a second trip if at all.

He opened his dark chocolate eyes sat up and ran his right hand through his salt and pepper colored hair. Grabbing his wide brimmed tan hat from beside his bed and placing it on his head as he stood up he trudged over to the mirror and stared at his reflection. His tanned face was leathery and wrinkled far past what it should be for his age, side effects of the years spent in the harsh sun and weather conditions as well as a lifetime of smoking. Memories from his past played through his head as he brushed his teeth and combed his hair in the corner of his cramped and dusty tent.

Clang Clang Clang; that sound was beginning to drive him crazy. He was actually starting to look forward to returning home even nearly empty handed. Clang clang Clang; but what he did not know was that today would be different. Clang Clang Clang; he did not know that today would change his life.

Clang, Clang, Clang, Clang, THUD

* * *

Okay, I am back. Its been a long time since Ive posted anything on here. I would like to continue some of my old stories eventually but its been so long I do not know where the plots were going and any mapping out I had done Ive lost long ago. But, let me know what you think of the beginning of my newest story. I would have more but my eyes are killing me and my hand(s) hurt from both writing and typing. So I took a break and uploaded what I have. Will try to get a little something up very soon. I have to while its still fresh in my mind or it will never happen D:


	2. Chapter 1

Thud Thud Thud Thud; the crew had definitely unearthed something. The man in the tent darted out and pushed through the little crowd that had formed around the diggers.

Thud Thud Thud Clink Clink Shink Shink; through the cracks in the rock something was starting to be visible. In the native tongue of the diggers he instructed them to remove more of the rock encasing whatever was underneath. Clang Clang; a chunk of rock fell away and a patch of the object was visible. It was clear for the most part but with a cloudy white area. He knelt forward to get a better look and reaches out a hand to brush away some rock debris thinking they'd unearthed some sort of crystal, maybe quartz. But as his hand touches the hard surface it does not feel like those, it is cold and makes him think of ice. He wipes it with his palm to check for any moisture and finds none. Puzzled he instructs the diggers to continue unearthing this object and more of them join in. Thoughtful chocolate eyes stare at this thing and up at the volcano towering above wondering what the team had found and thankful that they had finally found Something.

its been a week since the crack in the rock and the team has been working very hard nonstop. Everyone is still stumped as to what the cold clear hard substance is. Two men sit quietly in a tent having a meal together.

"Anthony what do you think it is?" gray eyes peer up over a glass of water. Brown ones meet their gaze and return to the bowl of stew.

"I don't know..."

'Well do you think its a crystalline compound or-"

"I don't know! I have no idea what is."

Anthony sighs and rubs his left temple through his black and gray hair. The other man opens his mouth to speak again but someone bursts into the tent.

Tony, Charlie, you'd better come see this NOW! Both men stand up and the three of them rush out of the tent. At the dig site under the big bright lamps used for digging at night, in the middle of the cold stone was a woman. Charlies and Anthony both gasped, they couldn't believe their eyes. They'd expected to find some skeletons of inhabitants from before the massive volcano eruption but a perfectly preserved woman encased in stone? Unthinkable.

"What do we do now?"

"Call James and tell him we found something big and he needs to come out here"

"Okay. What do we do with her?"

"Nothing until he gets here. Just have them keep digging the whole thing out"

Charlie walks over to the group of diggers and tells them Anthony's instructions to continue excavating.

* * *

Clink; something pierced the swirling fog, stirring a subconscious that had been lying dormant. Clink; again the sound echoed into the fog.

Clink Clink Clink; Anthony's tan hands worked forcefully but carefully with the tools against the ice cold rock. Clink Clink; with each chip that fell away he carefully placed in in a large container with the others. Clink Clink; He was getting closer. They just needed to be close enough that they could drill a small hole to reach the woman in the center. Just small enough that they could get DNA samples. Clink Clink Clink; He was almost there, just a few more inches. It was important that he stay patient and careful now. Getting excited and sloppy could ruin everything. Clink Clink Clink Clink' slowly but surely over the next few hours he worked his way into the rock.

'Chris! Chriiiis!

"What!"

"I'm finished. Come in here and do your thing!"

"Alright Tony I'm coming!"

Chris rolled a cart full of gadgets and machines into the room.

"Good job Tony! Perfectly done."

"thanks. You almost ready?"

Yup. Just few more minutes and we'll be on our way to figuring out this little beauty. Hey maybe she has some great great great great granddaughters huh? hahahaha"

"One can only hope"

The men chuckled as Chris began drilling a tiny hole through the ice and inserted a syringe into the shoulder of the woman drawing a vile full of blood.

"Alright Ill get this over to the lab and give you a call"

"Okay Chris let me know about those grand daughters. That's one hell of a pick up line. 'Hey I found your grandma buried on an island, want to have a drink sometime?'"

"Haha great Ill pick you up around eight maybe we canswing by the museum and check on Granny before the movie."

Both men left the room laughing and feeling good about the work they'd accomplished today.

* * *

Ring Ring Ring; Tony's eyes snapped open and glanced at the clock. 3:28a.m Ring Ring; his hand fumbled around until it landed on the phone.

"Hello?"

"Tony?"  
"Chris? Whats wrong? Its passed 3 in the freaking morning.

"The lab results came back and..and well somethings not right. I need ot draw more blood so we can run them again."

"What? Okay. You want ot meet at the museum?"

"Yeah"

Okay I'm on my way." Click; Tony rolled out of bed pulling on clothes and grabbing his keys. Slipping on his shoes he left the apartment and ventured into the night.

Tony pulled up beside the other car outside the big brick building and cut the engine. He took his keys and got out of the car.

"Hope I didn't keep you waiting too long."

"Nope I just got here."

They walked to the building and Anthony let them in turning off the alarm once inside. The two men made their way through the various corridors into the belly of the museum where the most valuable artifacts were kept. Anthony pressed his hand against the panel outside the room where the woman was being stored. The familiar sting of the laser grazed his fingertips before the thick door slid open. Chris grabbed a syringe from the cart he'd left there before and once again prepared to draw blood.

"What was wrong with the results that we have to be here after 4am?"

"Well, they came back very strange. THe DNA didnt match. There was proteins missing which can be expected from an old speciman but there was extra compounds as well. Overall the results showed something that isnt...isnt human."

Tony looked at Chris as he inserted the needle into the small hole he'd previously drilled through the stone.

"Honestly, I doubt this will be different when it comes back, we ran each test several times already Tony."

"Jesus," Anthony stared at the face of the beauty in the ice, "What are you?"

-_What are you?_- The sound echoed in the mind whisking away the fog and a pair of pitch black eyes snapped open to meet chocolate browns.

* * *

Okay. Little longer than the quick prologue. Took me a little bit because I was working on Black Widow a lot and needed a bump to get fired up and going on this one. But I got it. :)

Let me know what you think pretty please. Makes me more motivated and God knows I need motivation with my procrastinating self.


End file.
